Nuns face wrongful death lawsuits from Lafon Nursing Home tragedy

New Orleans nursing home avoids the spotlight
22 died there, but nuns not charged

They were in many ways twintragedies of Hurricane Katrina.

The circumstances leading tothe drowning deaths of 35 residents at St. Rita's nursing homein St. Bernard Parish sharesome striking similarities withwhat happened at Lafon nursing home in eastern New Orleans, where 22 residents diedduring Katrina's aftermath.

Administrators at both homes decided not to evacuate as Katrina bore down on southeastern Louisiana, despite grave warnings about the monster storm's power and mandatory evacuation orders.

Representatives of both homes have said they feared that their frail residents would not survive the stress of an evacuation.

Both have argued either that the evacuation order didn't apply to them or that it was not properly declared.

And despite what some havecalled heroic efforts by staffmembers to save the residents,the death tolls at both homeswere among the highest for anysingle incident during the catastrophic storm.

But that's where the similarities end.

The deaths at St. Rita's drewextensive national news mediaattention and became a lightning rod for general outrageabout the botched preparationfor and response to the disaster.The home's owners, Sal and Mabel Mangano, are facing 35counts of negligent homicide.

By contrast, the deaths at Lafon received scant media attention, and the nuns who ran thehome have not been chargedwith any crimes.

The Manganos' attorneyshave said they will seek to highlight those differences at thecouple's trial, which is slated to begin Monday with jury selection.

They say their intent is not toargue that the Sisters of theHoly Family should be arrestedbut rather to exonerate theManganos.

If a jury is told that a groupof nuns who have dedicatedtheir lives to serving the poorand the elderly chose to "shelterin place," the defense attorneysreason, the jurors will be lesslikely to view the Manganos' decision to do the same thing asreckless.

Both homes investigated

St. Rita's and Lafon wereamong 13 nursing homes investigated for Katrina-relateddeaths by state Attorney General Charles Foti's office, whichis prosecuting the Manganosbecause St. Bernard Parish District Attorney Jack Rowley recused himself, saying he knewsome of the victims.

Two days before Katrinamade landfall, the Sisters of the Holy Family evacuated elderlynuns living on the second floorof the nursing home but not thelay residents on the first floor.All 60 nuns living in the motherhouse across the street alsowere evacuated.

New Orleans resident MariaJohnson, who sued Lafon in thedeath of her 79-year-oldmother, said she is deeply troubled that the nuns were evacuated from the nursing home butnot her mother, Lorraine Duvernay.

"No! God in heaven!" shesaid. "They spent their wholelives caring for other people.They just made one poor decision that had terrible consequences."

Administrators with the Sisters of the Holy Family, an African-American congregationfounded in 1842 by a freewoman of African descent, declined to be interviewed, citingthe unresolved criminal investigation and wrongful-death lawsuits filed by relatives of at least victims.

They issued a one-sentencestatement through an attorney:"The circumstances faced byeach nursing facility in the NewOrleans area in connection withtheir response to Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath wereunique."

Days without help

The following account of whathappened at Lafon was gleanedfrom a handful of news reportsshortly after the hurricane andinterviews with several relativesof victims and their attorneys.

About 20 staff members, including a half-dozen nuns, rodeout the hurricane at the nursinghome with more than 100 residents.

As water seeped into thehome, rising to 3 feet, the staffused bedsheets to carry the residents to the second floor. Withmuch of the food, drinking water and medicine destroyed bythe flooding, conditions deteriorated further when the generator failed, causing temperaturesinside the home to soar.

As days passed with no outside help, the nursing home'schapel was turned into a makeshift morgue to store bodieswrapped in sheets.

Staff members flagged downemergency vehicles zipping paston their way to rescue peoplestranded on rooftops and in attics. Some stopped and promised to send help, but otherskept driving.

Help didn't arrive until thefourth day when a staff member's relative found a bus.Three dozen residents weretaken to a nursing home inHouma, but the bus driver wasspooked by random gunfire onthe outskirts of New Orleansand refused to return for therest.

The next day, two FEMAworkers arranged for a squadron of Black Hawk helicoptersto take the remaining residentsto a makeshift hospital at NewOrleans' Louis Armstrong International Airport.

'This was the big one'

In response to the wrongful-death suits, Lafon's attorneysargued that Katrina was eitheran "act of God" or a "man-made" disaster, both of whichwere beyond the nuns' control.In court filings, the attorneysalso suggest the governmentwas to blame for failed leveesand the delayed response byemergency workers.

Lafon's attorneys also contend that Mayor Ray Nagin'smandatory evacuation order"contained exceptions that wereapplicable to facilities such asLafon." The order exemptedhospitals but does not mentionnursing homes.

Attorneys said the order, issued less than 24 hours beforeKatrina made landfall, came toolate to evacuate the home safely.But several of the lawsuits contend that the evacuation of thenuns indicates there was ampletime to transport the lay residents to safety.

"It was obvious to me thatthis was the big one," Thibodeaux was quoted as saying in aJuly 2006 report on the Website Catholic Online. "This wasgoing to be the one that wewould not survive."

Asked by a Washington Postreporter in the days after thehurricane why the nursinghome wasn't evacuated, Thibodeaux said: "They made theirown plans. I assign the sisters,but I do not make the decisions."

Sister Augustine McDaniel,who was in charge of the nursing home, exercised her FifthAmendment right to not incriminate herself by refusing inApril to give a deposition in oneof the civil suits.

Helping until the end

Johnson said her mother suffered from diabetes, heart problems and was paralyzed on oneside of her body from a stroke.

"Before I left town, I told herthat she was going to be allright and that the sisters weregoing to take care of her," Johnson said. "I told her I would talkto her when I got back, butthat's the last thing I ever saidto her."

Johnson, who has settled herlawsuit against Lafon, said she'sconvinced McDaniel and theother nuns did their best to prevent complete chaos, despitethe desperate conditions.

"They kept people very calmand feeling as safe as possible,"she said. "A woman who helpedtake care of my mother said shewas talking and joking with herup until the end when she kindof just slept herself away."